Niagara Falls Part II

Here is the last post from my road trip around the country so I'll be back to my regularly scheduled Maine photography soon hehe.

I went back to Niagara to see it in the day and also from the Canadian side this time.

Here's a picture while still in the US, as well as one crossing over the Rainbow Bridge.





It took us at least an hour to get through customs, and they thought I was a criminal. I was called up 3 times until finally they asked for my social security number (???) and then realized they were looking at someone else with my name. They even asked if I worked for a roofing company, AND asked where I was on April 22nd, 2009, or something like this. I gave them my passport and drivers license..you think they'd have SOME clue who I was. So yeah, I was a little upset with the border crossing this time. Those employees should be ashamed of themselves for wasting vacationers precious time. Took an hour to get in and I had a dinner date with my aunt, so I had only an hour (rushed one too) to spend while actually there. We rushed around and took pictures. It was nice, but nothing really grabbed me.





Nothing grabbed me until THIS, that is.





This put me in a better mood. The rainbow only lasted a few moments so I had to rush to even get this shot. Feeling lucky, we continued towards the Horseshoe Falls section, where I was astounded once again. The water falling into a void, or so it seemed, created a vortex that drew me in.





Pictures of course do not do it justice, so I'll attempt to see if I have good enough video footage of it to post soon.

And then my senses were awakened yet again when one of the friends I was with let me try on his Eagle Eyes. These sunglasses..seriously...I felt like I was in another dimension.





And then we headed back to "the other side".





I must say that it does suck to have such a horrible border crossing adventure. Not only does it bring you down and steal your time, but it also almost leaves a negative feeling about the country you've visited. I was happy to return to the United States where I could be myself and feel safe. Way to make me feel at home Canada. On another note, I'm sure that Canadians coming into the United States get it just as bad. Why can't we be friends again? hehe

Niagara Falls New York

This will be an easy post since I only went to photograph one thing, Niagara Falls.

I had planned on going tomorrow, but my cousin and I were talking about it, and she said it was lit up at night and was better seen that way. I thought, what the heck, and drove from just outside of Rochester back to the Buffalo area to get some pictures of the lights. I was not disappointed and would highly recommend going at night to anyone and everyone.

Toronto Canada to Buffalo New York

Woke up relatively early in the Chicago area today. The clouds looked very interesting to me, though I guess I must have a thing for clouds so it's not unusual.





I don't remember if I took this in Detroit or Port Huron.





I finally made it to Toronto, and then I couldn't find where the downtown was. It's not right off the highway, and I couldn't see any signs. I drove past the entire city before realizing I had missed it. I turned around and luckily found some signs pointing to the downtown. The same thing happened to me trying to find my way out of the city. I got lost for at least an hour until I asked the third person how to get to QEW. I had been asking people where Queen Elizabeth Highway was. I guess nobody calls it by the proper name, woops!





After finding my way out, I headed to Buffalo and had a night tour with a friend. Here's a picture I took while we were driving around town.

South Dakota into North Dakota

Today I drove through South and North Dakota. I woke up relatively early and starting from Wyoming, drove to Mount Rushmore first.

I'm not sure if these were all in Wyoming or South Dakota.





I wasn't all that excited about Mount Rushmore but I figured since I was driving right by it I'd check it out. Maybe I was a little upset because I had read about how this monument made the Native Americans feel.





And a few more on the road pictures. Most of these are road pictures since I had a lot of ground to cover today.





I stopped a few times of course for gas, water, food, etc. And to take a picture of this off an exit to a very small town (I think it may be New Underwood).





I don't know why this seems familiar. Are there a lot of "World's Smallest Biker Bar" places out there? Reminds me of something out of a Quentin Tarantino film.

And more pictures on the road. The skies were very gray for the most part, and I approached a gray wall for at least 10 minutes, until finally I entered into it. It poured hard for only a few minutes, I saw the "Entering Central Time Zone" sign, and it suddenly started clearing up. Now the gray skies were behind, and a rainbow ahead. It was sort of symbolic to me. My heart will always be on the east coast.





I didn't really get to see North Dakota in the daylight, but it was beautiful driving towards it.





My plan was to head to Fargo to "scare myself". I was going to try to find a now entering sign and take silly pictures, but I failed. I barely made it to Fargo without running out of gas, so instead of having the silly Hollywood approach, I considered Fargo my savior. I decided to go for a beer instead. Here is a picture of the street I found my beer on! I went to The Empire and really enjoyed the atmosphere for the most part. When I asked someone outdoors having a cigarette how to get to Minnesota, some people nearly giggled. I guess Fargo is practically in Minnesota and I was only about 2 miles away.